April, Dani - Raven's Ranch (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme) (13 page)

She wore the lace bra and thong panties beneath her clothes when she left the store. She found herself ready to blush at the feel of the undergarments next to her body, and wondered about her sudden impulse to buy the sex clothes. She wondered if Chip would notice that her short T-shirt now stood up more on her chest and more of her stomach was revealed. Yes, he would definitely notice. He had been secretly eying her body all day, but he would be too uncertain to say anything.

He was waiting for her outside. He had been too sweet to complain all day long, but she realized that his feet must be killing him from all the walking and standing. After all hers were and she was the one who was the shopaholic.

“You’ve done great today,” she told him as she took his hand again and they started to walk with the crowd at the mall. “Mission accomplished. Now why don’t you buy me that banana split?”

“It’s a deal,” he told her. Was that a squeeze he gave her hand? Chip was getting more comfortable with her as the day progressed.

When they were at the ice cream counter of the food court, Chip ordered a banana split for both of them. Raven had to correct his order several times until they got her toppings just the way she liked them. The girl working behind the counter, who was making the banana split, laughed at her. Raven laughed with her.

“My boyfriend wanted to buy me a banana split,” she told the counter girl. The girl smiled at them. Raven took Chip’s hand. Chip looked very embarrassed.

The midday crowd at the food court had already cleared out and it was easy to get a table. They got one by the floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out at the mountains, and the mountains seemed to be just at the other end of the parking lot from that view. They were very beautiful.

“Didn’t I tell you one of these would taste good after a long day of shopping,” she told Chip, scooping a spoon of chocolate ice cream in her mouth.

Chip smiled at her. “I’m having a good time,” he told her.

She reached over the table and squeezed his hand. “Me, too.”

“Only…”

“Only what?” Raven said and frowned.

“You called me your boyfriend back there.”

She looked up at his adorable face. “That’s because you are like my boyfriend now, sweetheart.”

“Well, you know how small towns can be,” he said. “They hear you call me boyfriend, and then later if you come to town with one of the other guys…”

Raven laughed but had to frown again as well. “That would be kind of confusing for most people I guess.”

“But don’t misunderstand me; I love to hear you call me your boyfriend. That’s the best sound ever.”

“We’ll figure something out to tell the good folks of Masterson in case any of them are too inquisitive about our relationship.”

After the banana splits they were about to leave the mall when Raven spotted the multiplex movie theater at the end of the concourse. They were running a movie that she had been dying to see for weeks, but until now never had the time in her crazy life to take in. The next show was starting in fifteen minutes.

“I’ve got enough for a ticket and popcorn if you do,” Raven told him.

Chip counted his money. “Yeah, I’ve got enough,” he said. “I’ve even got enough leftover to buy us some drinks and candy.”

Raven thought the movie was actually pretty good. There was a name actor in it who Raven liked, and the story was tightly told, but she found she wasn’t able to concentrate on it at all. It was already late, and by the time they left the theater in two hours it would be later still. It would be time to go home to the ranch.

Raven felt a knot in her stomach. What was going to happen once they got back home? What were they going to do? She knew the answers of course. She knew what would happen and could imagine what they would end up doing. How would it be, how would it feel, and when it was over would things be the same? Would she like or even respect herself any longer, and would she still feel this gentle, warm tenderness for Chip, or would she hate him?

She looked over at Chip halfway through the movie. She picked up his hand in hers. She could tell he felt the tension building, too, just like she did. He had been scared all day and was probably even more scared now. She had caught up with him. She was now every bit as scared as he was.

She squeezed his hand. He squeezed back. The movie played on before them.

Chapter Eleven

When they walked out to the truck after the movie was over, Raven went to the driver’s side door, and Chip opened it for her. She crawled in that door so she could sit closer to him in the seat. Her hip was touching his as they drove.

They drove back to the ranch in near silence. The sky had grown dark, and Chip had to turn on his truck’s headlights. Raven counted the yellow highway markers as they raced past.

She leaned her head over and against his shoulder to rest on the long drive home. She could smell his cologne again. It had stayed strong with him throughout their long day together.

She could feel the pulse of his heart under his shirt, and it was quickening with each mile that brought them closer to home. Shifting on the seat, she brought her body in closer to his and rested a hand on his chest. His breathing picked up. He was scared.

Raven felt the tension and could do nothing to stop it from building. The inside of the truck had become uncomfortable all of a sudden. Even with the windows rolled all the way down there didn’t seem to be enough air in there.

She thought about saying something to him, making meaningless small talk, teasing him some more, but then thought better of it. She didn’t feel like talking any more than he did. All she wanted to do was listen to his heartbeat, and feel his shallow breathing above her. As she thought about it she realized her heart was probably beating just as fast and her breathing just as ragged.

When they turned off the state highway to head down the gravel road that would take them to the ranch, the tension increased tenfold. They were almost home.

The outside lights were on in the trailer yard when they pulled in. The other four ranch hands were sitting at the table in the middle of the yard playing poker. Roy was shouting because he had just won some money off of Bran, and both Connor and Tyler were laughing.

Chip helped Raven down from the cab of his truck. She thought he may have ran his hand down her back just a little longer than necessary as he helped her and let his hand run to the naked skin on her back that was revealed by the short T-shirt.

She stayed in his arms a moment and looked up at him. He looked so very uncertain. She tried to smile at him, an “everything’s going to be all right” smile, but she knew she wasn’t convincing.

The other guys waved over at them. Raven waved back, wondering at their apparent nonchalance. Chip didn’t even seem to notice them.

Raven led Chip by the hand up to her trailer door.

“Should I come inside?” he asked.

“Sure,” she told him, and tried a better smile this time. “I need you to help me hang these curtains we bought today.”

That seemed to make Chip feel better. He now had something to do. “I’ll go get the sacks and bring them in,” he told her, running back to his truck to unload.

Raven swatted a fly away and then opened her door to walk inside her trailer. She turned on the lights, set her bag over in the corner next to her bunk bed, and kicked out of her cowgirl boots that she had been wearing ever since she bought them that afternoon. In less than a minute Chip came inside with her, loaded down with the sacks and boxes from their shopping.

“Just put the box with the computer on top of my desk over there,” Raven told him. “I’ll have time to set it up tomorrow.”

Chip did as he was told and Raven scoped out her windows for the curtains. With the lights on inside it was a fish bowl in there. A good thing they had gotten those little curtains today or the night would have become even more awkward still, considering her other four guys were seated just outside.

Raven helped Chip work on hanging the curtains. Rods were already in place over each window so it was just a matter of taking them down and fitting the new curtains to them and then hanging them back up. She could have done it without his help. In fact, he was so nervous he kept dropping his end and slowing her down.

“Why don’t you go get us a couple of beers out of the fridge,” she finally told him to get rid of him. “I’ll finish up here and join you in a minute. A cold one sounds pretty good right about now.”

“Sorry, Raven,” he told her, handing her his end of the curtain and going off to the kitchenette. “I’m just real clumsy tonight I guess. I don’t know why I’m so nervous. This has been the best day of my life.”

She hung the last curtain over the window by her bed, and then crawled down off the bed and came out to join him at the mini table in the kitchenette. He was already seated and had set the beers on the table for them and had already pulled off the caps.

She sat down next to him and took a quick swig of her brew. She found herself touched by his words. “You thought shopping with me was the best day of your life?” she asked him, and suddenly the tension between them was starting to take a new direction, though she felt it just as heavy.

Chip nodded his acknowledgement and took his beer bottle up in his long fingers and swallowed half of it in one gulp.

“Don’t be nervous, Chip,” she told him in a whisper and, leaning over, took his mouth to hers for their first real kiss. They were alone now, it was night, it was humid inside the trailer, and everything in it was still and quiet.

All that could be heard inside was the wet noise of their lips meeting each other. She opened for him. After a second he did the same. Their tongues met. She could taste the beer. Her hand ran up the hard muscles of his chest and now she could feel his heart beating faster than ever, almost ready to quake outside of his chest.

“How many girlfriends have you had, Chip?” she asked, realizing he hadn’t even touched her yet.

Chip looked down at the table as if deciding on what he would say, and then looked back over at her to meet her eyes. “I’ve never had a girlfriend before, Raven.”

“You mean you’ve never…” The words caught in her throat. This was a surprise she had not counted on. “You’ve never been with a woman before?”

“No.”

“You’re a twenty-one-year-old virgin?”

“I guess I am.” Now he seemed to be blushing from embarrassment more than anything else. “Please don’t tell the guys. They would never let me live it down.”

“Don’t worry, honey,” she told him and put her hands back on his chest and shoulders again to try and reassure him. “I’m just surprised that in this day and age…and you’re a really goodlooking guy…that, well…you’ve never had sex before.”

“I hope you don’t think I’m a sissy or something.” He was looking back down at the table and could no longer meet her gaze.

“Hell no!” She ran her hands down his arms and tried to get him to look her in the eye. “Don’t feel bad about it or embarrassed.”

Her voice was loud and firm. He looked back down at her and placed his hands on her arms to hold her.

“I actually have a confession to make,” she told him in a conspiratorial tone. “I’ve never had a virgin before. My two boyfriends in college both had other girlfriends before me, and even though Connor won’t admit it I think he has more notches on his belt than he can count.”

“You don’t think less of me?” he asked her, shy but still holding her eyes with his own.

“I’m actually flattered that I am going to be your first.”

She kissed him again and opened her lips to him, demanding that he open to her as well. Her tongue went inside and ran over his tongue, caressing the inside of his mouth. His arms started to wrap her in a tight embrace, his long fingers caressing down her body and feeling her open skin at the small of her back.